The Importance of Balance
A life lived in balance allows for both professional and personal objectives without sacrificing one for the other. In effect, it's having a master plan for living your life—creating the builder's set of blueprints that will be the basis for all other decisions as you build exactly the life you want on all levels.
"Having a balanced life is about health," says Alan Weiss, Ph.D and president of Summit Consulting Group Inc. in East Greenwich, R. I. It's about reducing the levels of stress that result from too much pressure without enough release—and the resulting damage on the individual's physical and mental well-being: high blood pressure, insomnia, muscle spasms, headaches, irritability, eating or drinking too much, and difficulty making decisions, for example.
Dr. David Shern, president and CEO of the National Mental Health Association, adds that 43 percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress. "Many people don't realize the toll stress can have on their lives or that mental health is the key to overall health in general," he says.
The other people in the equation
Bill Medina, CGR and president of Medina Construction in Salina, Kan., knows more about the problems of a life out of balance than he wishes he did. Medina started his company with wife Peggy in 1976. Like many remodelers, he was working 60-70 hours a week, even after the company was well-established. He often left before his young sons were awake in the morning and didn't get home until they were in bed again at night.
"I worked most Saturdays, and on Sundays did office work at home," Medina recalls. "That was our life. Well, we really didn't have a life; it was all about work. My work! Peggy was trying to raise two boys by herself; we had no time together."
